I love filo pastry and it has been a while since I’ve really created something with it in the kitchen. The simple fact that it is ready rolled and ready to use is very easy to use, especially for your pies.
Normally one can opt to use short-crust pastry for a pie, but what I did is using the Filo Pastry layers for this pie that came out crispy on the outside and fantastic texture inside. The thing is that as I had a lot of broccoli (which I adore), I wanted to base my weekly home-menu on this fantastic vegetable.
For the pie I decided to use Brie the french cheese although italian cheese Gorgonzola Dolce would have been also suitable for this recipe for its stronger taste than the Brie. It goes superbly well with Broccoli!
The only draw back is that you must use a lot of melted butter to get this Filo Pastry nice and crispy :)
Here’s the Recipe for you…
INGREDIENTS
500g filo pastry
400g broccoli, cut into small pieces (boiled)
200ml fresh cream
3 medium-sized eggs, beaten
1cup/250ml milk
180g brie cheese, slices
pinch nutmeg
salt & pepper
250g salted butter, melted
cumin seeds for decoration on top
METHOD FOR BROCCOLI AND BRIE FILO PASTRY PIE
Start off by boiling the small florets of broccoli in salted boiling water for 3-5 mins.
Then drain from access water using a colander and set aside.
Beat the eggs and add them to the fresh cream and mix well together.
Mix together in a large bowl the broccoli, milk, cream mix, nutmeg and season with salt and pepper.
Melt the butter and roll the filo pastry sheets (you don’t need to cut them). (Important to leave covered at all times)
Use a 12 inch tart tin and brush the tin with the melted butter then add your first layer of filo pastry sheet.
Brush the filo pastry sheet with butter and place another sheet on top across the first layer (so you cover all the tart tin)
Add another 2 filo pastry sheets with the same method always buttered.
The next step is to add half of the broccoli mixture in the tart tin and lay your slices of Brie cheese.
Then pour over the other half of the broccoli mixture and smooth the top.
Add 4 layers of buttered filo pastry on top using the same procedure and finally add the cumin seeds.
- Bake the Broccoli and Brie Filo Pastry Pie in a hot oven for 30-35 mins.